By: Brittany Gentry

I was nine when I got my first horse. I knew I was going to love taking care of Star, all the time! And I did, until the winter came. Each morning before school and in the evening, I had to go out and feed her.

By the time I was ten, we had moved into town and kept Star about a mile away. Even so, in the winter, it was still my job, along with my brother, to feed her morning and night. The problem was, like most kids, we were quite content to think of ourselves first, which led to us forgetting to feed Star until after dark; long after a kid wants to ride a bike clear across town; and go into a dark old barn. As you can imagine, we tumbled back out of the ’spooky’ barn as soon as possible, with her feed. We then had to break the frozen water in Star’s tub, and haul icy water in five gallon buckets, fifty yards back to the tub. We did this each night we forgot her, all winter long.

It was one of the most useful lessons my dad gave us kids. He did not just bale us out; instead, he let us shoulder the consequences of our actions. Sometimes you have to face fears because you have a responsibility. We had wanted the horse and he did not let us out just because we got tired of what, at first, we thought would be so much fun.

I see now that not everything we do in life is done for fun. By doing things for my horse, for no other reason then that they needed doing, I learned to enjoy those chores. More importantly, I have learned that when you take on a responsibility you should finish it, whether you like it or not. Little did I know on those cold, dark nights, when I took off my gloves and stuck my hands into freezing water, sacrificing for my horse, that I was learning lessons that would build into who I would become and will stay with me the rest of my life.